


Fourth and Foremost

by UnrealRomance



Series: Life is More [4]
Category: Labyrinth (1986)
Genre: F/M, Irritating plants, Magic, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-22
Updated: 2016-08-22
Packaged: 2018-08-10 09:52:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7840138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnrealRomance/pseuds/UnrealRomance
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Okay so this is a REAL drabble for this series that I was able to write out. Like, an actual drabble length for me and stuff. lol.</p><p>OC comes back from a trip to find that Jareth is quite literally dealing with her absence with 'prickliness'.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fourth and Foremost

' _Shit.'_

Take two days to travel and visit family- and I come back to...

The labyrinth is crumbling at the edges as I walk through it.

I get turned around a few times, but eventually I make it to the end of the stone path. A few twigs get stuck in my hair and I have some burrs in the cuffs of my jeans. Jeez, this guy's emotions can be pointy and brittle in magical form.

The castle is grayer than usual, which is saying something- since the stones that make up the castle are gray to begin with.

I walk into the castle and call out to him as I walk. "Jareth! Hey, I'm back!"

"He's not in the castle, miss." A sweet, high-pitched voice says from right near my head.

I yelp and jerk back, turning around and blinking at the sight of a little caterpillar with an almost-human face. Tiny and...is that a scarf? "Wh-where is he?" Just roll with it, magic caterpillars are nothing. You've seen dancing teacups and cursing furniture now, it's just another level of weirdness that comes with Jareth's friendship...

Apparently.

"Lying under a tree forgetting his troubles with a smoke, I'd wager." The little caterpillar huffs. "Always losing time, that one. Keep an eye out."

I frown and when I blink, the little caterpillar is gone. Along with the gap in the bricks where he was just sitting. I inhale sharply and turn on my heel, heading out the door I remember leads to the garden.

' _Please be under a_ _ **nearby**_ _tree.'_

He is not.

He is, in fact- at the _back_ of the damn forest that's grown in his forgetfulness. Filled with brambles, thorny bushes and of course the occasional spider web. Ugh.

I stand there, heaving deep breaths in and out as I make it to him, finally- and he's just sitting there. Back against a tree trunk, with a pipe between his lips.

He doesn't even notice me until I stomp up in front of him. "Ah. And the lady returns."

"Fix this." I point behind me at the brambles and castle and everything. "Fix it now." I'm pretty sure I'm woozy because all those damn sharp pointy thorns have dripped me almost dry of a whole pint or two of blood.

He has a lazily annoyed expression crossing his face as he speaks. "Now, is that any way to greet me after such a long absence? How rude."

I take a deep breath, step close and bend to take two heaping handfuls of his fine garments in either of my hands near his shoulders and haul him up until he's standing back against the tree instead of sitting.

The pipe falls from his mouth and he stares at me, wide-eyed.

I'm still gasping for air a little, and I narrow my eyes at him. " _Fix_. _**IT.**_ "

I can feel a rush of warm air as the trees recede back into their normal configuration, but I avoid looking. Looking always makes the magic harder, because he also has to fool my eyes, apparently. When the warmth dies down, I glance over my shoulder and sigh in relief.

"Where were you?" He asks in a whisper.

He's not under my hands when I turn around, fingers clasping empty air. I glance up at the rustle in the tree and see him in that damn owl form.

"I was visiting family!" I exclaim and put my hands on my hips. "It's only been a few days. You can be without me a few days, can't you?"

The owl puffs up and an immediate rush of guilt and 'fuck fuck, no you did not just say that' run through me. I can't make this his fault for being upset about it. I'm the one who involved myself with him, made myself necessary to his survival for right now, it's my fault. Not his.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that." I huff and run my fingers through my hair. "I'm sorry, alright? My family needed me. I had to take care of some business and I'm back now. I told you beforehand, I offered for you to stay in my house, you could've called me if you wanted."

The owl still stares at me, baleful and puffy.

"Look, I know. You're not better." Even though he keeps trying to convince me he _is_ , that isn't his fault. He _wants_ to be better. "I'm here now, so...do you want to go and get something to eat at my place?"

The owl shimmers and disappears when I blink.

"I have not forgiven you." He sees fit to inform me as he walks around the tree trunk and on past me. "But I am hungry."

"Fine, whatever. Come on." I walk up next to him and sigh as we exit the garden. "Can you at least heal me, or something? I don't want to have to go get a tetanus shot or something."

He flicks a glance at me and snaps his fingers.

My body shivers with the force of the magic and all the burrs and thorns in my hair, clothes or stuck in my skin fall off all of a sudden. The scratches and scrapes scab over.

"Thank you." I say, relieved. "I'm going to take the longest shower known to man, and maybe then I'll feel human again."

"Who wants to feel human?" Jareth scrunches his nose a bit in a very pretty, practiced way. "Dull, boring creatures. No magic or inherent transmogrification abilities..."

Jareth waxes poetic about the dullness and boring nature of humanity the whole way home.

And it's almost kind of adorable, but I'll never tell him that. His ego is the size of the moon as it is.

**Author's Note:**

> This one took a while to come up with and produce as I got a feel for these two and their relationship.


End file.
